The euro zone’s bailout fund looks set for final approval from the Slovak parliament, possibly as soon as Thursday, and the move should lift market sentiment throughout Europe as it enables the currency bloc to support its trouble members.

Markets throughout the region started rallying late Wednesday on news that Slovakia’s parliament will vote to endorse the amended European Financial Stability Facility, the euro zone’s rescue fund, by Friday at the latest.

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“The EFSF will be voted on Friday at the latest,” Robert Fico, chairman of the largest opposition parliamentary party Smer-Social Democracy, said Wednesday.

Fico added that the legal process to hold the repeat vote on increasing the firepower of the EFSF will begin Thursday and a parliamentary vote on the EFSF could be held the same day.

Late Tuesday, Slovakia’s parliament rejected amendments to the EUR440 billion EFSF, thereby making Slovakia–the euro zone’s second-poorest member—the only country of the 17-nation bloc that hasn’t approved the expansion of the EFSF.

The program must be ratified by all euro-zone nations to become operational.

In Poland, consumer prices are expected to have fallen in September due to a stronger-than-usual seasonal decline in food prices, as well as a 1.5% drop in fuel prices, BRE Bank said.

OTHER NEWS

HUNGARY: A downgrade of Hungary’s sovereign debt is unlikely, the chief executive of the Hungarian debt management agency AKK said in an interview Wednesday.

HUNGARY: Hungary’s government bond issuance next year will likely cover only expiring debt, the Chief Executive of Hungary’s debt management agency AKK said in an interview Wednesday.

POLAND: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he will present a plan Thursday for building a government for his second term in power after the ruling coalition won a majority in parliamentary elections.

SLOVAKIA: Slovak party leaders Wednesday brokered a deal paving the way for the country’s parliament to approve as early as Thursday the euro-zone’s enhanced government bailout fund, part of Europe’s push for new defenses against a spreading debt crisis.

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Emerging Europe Real Time provides sharp analysis and insight into what’s making news in Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on the expertise of our reporters in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey, the site provides an inside track on economics, politics and business in this emerging part of the European continent.